


so very loved

by AShortWalkToDelinquency



Series: mpreg rewrites - season 1 [1]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Episode: s01e02 Annihilator, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mpreg, Snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AShortWalkToDelinquency/pseuds/AShortWalkToDelinquency
Summary: Suddenly he's on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of the warehouse, his body beginning to convulse as the venom pumps through his veins. It feels like fire spreading from the wound, flames licking up his arm and bursting into his chest. The pain punches the air from his lungs and he can't seem to suck in a breath to replace it. And through it all — through the blinding pain and convulsing muscles, through his jaw clenching so tightly that he can feel a piece of his tooth chip off and fall to the back of his tongue — he has one singular thought.The baby.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo/Malcolm Bright
Series: mpreg rewrites - season 1 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799755
Comments: 10
Kudos: 72





	so very loved

**Author's Note:**

> None of the works in this series are related to one another, but they will all feature Malcolm in various stages of being pregnant.
> 
> -
> 
> Thanks to the Goblins for encouraging this series (and encouraging me)

Ever since he was a boy, Malcolm Bright has been terrible at following directions. Sure, sometimes it's to buck the system, but more often than not, it's because his curiosity gets the better of him. He needs to understand how things work — how _people_ work — which oftentimes means ignoring the rules that are put in place, even if they're for his own safety. Maybe _especially_ if they're for his own safety.

Despite what people seem to think, he doesn't actually have a death wish. He just prioritizes his health and safety lower than that of finding the truth. Usually.

He's honestly been putting in an effort since things changed between him and Gil after his first case with Major Crimes. The relationship may be quite new still, but the way Gil cares for him, the way he loves him, it's made Malcolm think that maybe his life is worth protecting.

And now…now he has so much more to live for than he ever did before. It's not just his life on the line anymore. Their child — a child Gil and Malcolm created together in an act of love — is now his responsibility, too. So when Gil tells him to wait outside, he does.

For almost a full minute.

But then he realizes that Gil and the team might not have made the connections that he has. May not realize what they're walking into. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to the team — if something happened to Gil — because he hadn't warned them. And so he follows them through the thick plastic sheeting over the bay doors, slipping just inside the entrance of the vast warehouse.

"He's a black market animal dealer," he says to the three detectives, who all swivel their heads towards him.

"Damn it Bright, I told you to wait," Gil whisper-yells, but he can tell that it's more concern about keeping him out of danger than it is anger at him for disobeying his order to remain outside.

All Malcolm can do is shrug and offer a sheepish smile. Now that he's warned them and they're no longer going in blind, he can go back and wait outside like Gil asked.

At least, that was the plan.

But then he hears the sounds of a menagerie coming from further in the warehouse. And that's when it hits: the insatiable curiosity that's been following him like a shadow for as long as he can remember comes bursting through to the forefront of his mind with a vehemence that can't be denied.

His eyes go wide at the chirping, squawking and roars that echo through the space. There's no way that he can turn back now. He's compelled to go forward, even if it's just to catch a brief glimpse of what Liam is keeping in the warehouse. As Gil and the team move in, spreading out to cover the immense area on their search for Liam, he decides he'll just take a quick peek around the corner, and then he'll go back outside.

As he rounds the corner, though, it's one captivating sight after another, and he just gets pulled farther in with every cage, aquarium or bin that he sees. The operation is impressive in variety alone. Liam has a breathtaking array of animals waiting to be sold, and Malcolm can't stop his feet from carrying him deeper into the warehouse to mentally catalogue the various species.

They're stunning. But he's thankful that they've stumbled across Liam's operation in the course of the investigation. All of these animals deserve better than the tiny cages they're locked in, waiting to be sold to God knows who. As his eyes sweep the scene, he's so enraptured by the specimens surrounding him that it takes a moment to recognize the rustling up ahead as something other than just another animal.

Though that might not be too far off, Malcolm thinks. When Liam steps out from behind a terrarium he looks exactly like so many of the other caged animals — scared and angry and ready to do whatever it takes to ensure his freedom.

"Liam," Malcolm holds his hands up as a sign that he means the man no ill will. "We just want to talk."

For the space of a breath, they stare each other down, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move. In the end, it happens almost simultaneously, both men lunging forward, but Liam reaches with kevlar gloves into a nearby bin and pulls out a handful of snakes, throwing them at Malcolm before bolting for the exit.

Malcolm instinctively brings his hands up to cover his face, ducking away from the unexpected projectiles, and tripping over the boxes behind him, barely catching himself as he stumbles to the ground. Unfortunately, just as Liam intended, it halts his pursuit as he struggles to push himself back to his feet. Thankfully, Dani rounds the corner almost immediately.

"Bright?" she asks, lowering her weapon.

"That way," he huffs, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he looks to Dani but points the direction that Liam took off. He's a bit embarrassed that he wasn't able to bring Liam in, worried about whether or not Dani and JT will believe he deserves a place on the team if he can't detain a suspect. At the very least, though, he can direct her which way to go to catch him.

"Bright." The softness of her tone catches the edges of his mind, pulling in a way it shouldn't. He looks at her — really looks at her — and sees the concern and fear spreading over her face, tightening the lines around her eyes and mouth. He follows her gaze and sees the snake attached firmly to his wrist, dangling from teeth embedded deep in his flesh.

Without even thinking it through, he's reaching out and yanking the snake off, ignoring the way its teeth rip through skin and muscle as he pulls it away.

"It's fine," he hears the words but doesn't even recognize that they're coming from his mouth. A part of him acknowledges the fact that he might be in shock, but the rest of his mind shifts swiftly to denial. "Fine. It was just a small one. Probably not e—"

Suddenly he's on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of the warehouse, his body beginning to convulse as the venom pumps through his veins. It feels like fire spreading from the wound, flames licking up his arm and bursting into his chest. The pain punches the air from his lungs and he can't seem to suck in a breath to replace it. And through it all — through the blinding pain and convulsing muscles, through his jaw clenching so tightly that he can feel a piece of his tooth chip off and fall to the back of his tongue — he has one singular thought.

The baby.

The baby that he only just found out about yesterday. The baby that he was planning on telling Gil about as soon as the case was over. The baby that's only the size of a sweet pea and is fully dependent on Malcolm to keep her safe.

All the fears he's been trying to keep at bay since he took the first at-home pregnancy test come rushing back, screaming that he should never be a parent. The very first thing he needs to do as a father to the tiny life that's growing inside of him — provide a safe space for her to grow — and he's already letting her down.

With a sudden influx of strength that he didn't know he possessed, he forces his stiff neck to move, dragging his head towards Dani. She appears to be calling his name, but he can't make out the words over the rush of blood in his ears. It doesn't matter, though. All that matters is making sure that when help arrives, they take care of his baby first, and they can only do that if they know she exists. He gasps in a rasping breath, just enough air that he can bite out, "Pregnant."

Dani's eyebrows shoot up while her jaw goes slack, but Bright's vision is filtering in and out and he can't seem to focus on her. His back arches off the ground, muscles spasming and shaking, as he fights to stay awake. Fights to breathe.

He catches snatches of Dani's words, calling his name and phoning for an ambulance. Her cold hands on his face help to ground him for a moment, and he looks towards her once again. She looks scared. It's the last thing he sees before a particularly intense wave of pain spikes through his body and he finally loses consciousness.

\---

His dreams take a vicious turn, trapping him with his father, who turns his horrific medical experiments on Malcolm and his unborn child, pumping him full of a cocktail of pain-inducing substances and taking readings on how it affects the baby as Malcolm writhes on the table that he's strapped to.

"Isn't the human body fascinating, my boy? A separate life growing inside of you," Martin runs a hand reverently over his swollen belly, "and yet anything that happens to you has a direct effect on the baby."

Malcolm tries to pull away, pain ripping through his body from the last injection that Martin shot into his hand, but he's sluggish and the straps are holding him down and he can't get away. Martin has him hooked up to a number of machines and he can hear the rapid fire beat of his heart rate rising until it's almost a steady tone, too close to the sound of flatlining to be any good.

"Stop," Malcolm grunts through clenched teeth, "please." he can feel the tears slipping down the sides of his face and hates himself for begging, but he'll do anything to save his baby.

As if Martin knows what Malcolm is thinking, he comes to the head of the table and runs his hand gently through Malcolm's hair.

"Don't worry, my boy," Martin smiles down at him just like he did when Malcolm was a boy, waking up from a bad dream to find Martin's comforting presence there, ready to tuck him back in and tell him that everything was going to be okay. "I'm going to take very good care of my granddaughter."

Malcolm nearly vomits at the idea of Martin even touching his baby. A blinding combination of rage and panic slam into him like a tidal wave and he strains against his restraints with every ounce of strength he has left.

He opens his mouth to scream — whether to call for help or beg his father to stop, he doesn't really know — but as hard as he tries, nothing comes out. He's trapped in a never-ending silent scream as Martin picks up a scalpel, a sheen of light glinting off the blade as he lowers it to Malcolm's stomach. There's a gleam in Martin's eye, a hint of The Surgeon shining through the facade of his father, as the blade begins to slice through his skin, the flesh parting with ease beneath the deadly instrument.

Just as he feels Martin's hands sliding into his body he finally wakes up, shooting up in bed as the scream he'd been so desperate to release in his dream finally breaks free. His hands fly to his stomach and there's a moment of sheer panic when he's met with flat abs rather than the bulge that he's expecting, but he quickly realizes it was all just a dream, that his sweet pea hasn't grown enough to push his belly out yet.

Disorientated and still battling the terror of his nightmare, he flinches away from the steady hands that land on his arms. But when he's finally able to focus, it's Gil's warm eyes looking back at him, not The Surgeon's cold and calculating stare.

"Gil," he nearly sobs, breath leaving him in a rush as Gil drops down to sit on the side of the bed and wraps Malcolm up in strong arms. He feels the tug of something chemical pulling at his consciousness but fights it with what little strength he has, trying to shake off the mental fog that's making it difficult to separate dream from reality.

"Shhh, Malcolm, you're okay." Gil's voice breaks around the words, tearing at Malcolm's heart as he realizes just how worried he must've been. The vice-like grip Gil is holding him with is merely confirmation of what he already knows, a physical reminder of how much Gil loves him.

Once his heart has slowed enough he's not worried about it bursting from his chest, he pulls back, terrified to ask but needing to know.

"The baby?" he whispers, eyes already filling with tears as he braces himself for the news that will shatter him into a thousand irreparable pieces. Even after everything he's survived in his life, he's pretty sure that _this_ would be the breaking point for him. The one thing that he could never come back from.

He can count in hours the amount of time he's known about her, but he's already so head over heels in love that losing her might actually kill him. The thought alone causes a tightness in his chest that leaves him breathless and aching.

"They're monitoring it closely, but so far, the baby looks fine," Gil says, a watery smile stretching across his face.

The crushing weight that was threatening to suffocate him  
vanishes with those few words, leaving him light-headed and unsteady where he sits. His entire body begins to shake with relief as he collapses into Gil, tears absorbing into the soft fabric of his turtleneck sweater.

Gil's quiet reassurances filter through as white noise in the back of his mind, fragments of his comforting words breaking through to slowly calm his frayed nerves. He allows himself a moment to soak in the man's comforting presence, face buried in the crook of his neck.

As Gil's hand strokes up and down his back, it combines with the chemical pull he's felt since he woke up, making his eyelids feel unbearably heavy. Malcolm bristles at the urge to sleep that's taking him over. The thought of being pumped full of sedatives — of being pulled back into that nightmare with his father, of his child being drugged through his blood — has him jerking back from Gil and scrambling for the tube in his arm.

"Hey, hey, hey," Gil grabs Malcolm's hands in a firm grip, keeping him from yanking the IV out. "Bright, stop. It's just pain killers and fluids, and it's safe for the baby."

Breathing hard and still struggling slightly against Gil's grip, Malcolm searches his face to make sure that he's telling the truth, but he already knows Gil wouldn't lie to him. Not about this. Not when their baby is involved.

He blows out a slow breath, forcing his muscles to relax and his heart rate to settle following yet another sudden burst of fear. The fluctuations in his emotions from fear to relief to panic in such a short time has left him feeling exhausted and nauseated, and all he wants to do is curl up with Gil and forget this day ever happened.

Gently squeezing Gil's hands to assure him that he's not going to pull the IV out, Malcolm patiently waits for him to release his grip. Gil hesitates for just a moment before moving one of his hands to the back of Malcolm's neck, lightly kneading the muscles there. It's a touch they've shared for years, long before they ever became lovers, but even back then, it always brought Malcolm peace. Made him feel safe. He only recently learned that it brought a similar sense of comfort to Gil.

That knowledge makes Malcolm crave the touch more than ever. He closes his eyes and leans into it, letting it act as a balm to his frayed nerves. It doesn't take long until Malcolm feels more like himself and he opens his eyes to find Gil watching him closely. Though there's still concern weighing heavy on his face, there's also a brightness in his eyes that Malcolm recognizes as sheer, unadulterated happiness.

Gil is happy about this very, very unexpected pregnancy.

This unexpected pregnancy that he found out about in the worst way imaginable.

In all the scenarios Malcolm had run in his head — all of the ideas that he considered and rejected, from a cake saying "congratulations daddy" to a singing telegram — a near-death situation on the way to the hospital was not what Malcolm had in mind for how to tell Gil he's pregnant. He wasn't even conscious to see how Gil took the news.

"I'm sorry, Gil. This isn't how I planned to let you know you're going to be a father. I, um, I was planning on telling you when the case wrapped up," Malcolm says quietly, looking down to where Gil's hand is wrapped around his own, resting in his lap. He bites down on his lip, suddenly nervous about the whole prospect. The excitement he saw in Gil's eyes leaves no doubt that the man is pleased about the baby, but their relationship is still so new that he's not entirely sure how Gil feels about _them_ , together, as a family.

As if sensing Malcolm's doubts — and frankly, he wouldn't be surprised if that was exactly what happened, since Gil has always been able read Malcolm's deepest emotions like they're nothing more than a drugstore paperback — Gil's slides his hand from the back of Malcolm's neck to the tip of his chin, tilting his head up to look him in the eye. The love in Gil's deep brown eyes tells Malcolm everything he needs to know as to how Gil feels about the three of them becoming a family, without him having to say a single word.

It's everything Malcolm never knew he wanted. The three of them are going to be a family. The type of family Malcolm has always thought he was too damaged to have. A slow smile begins to creep over his face, spreading until his cheeks begin to ache.

The matching smile on Gil's face — Malcolm's favourite of all Gil's smiles: the blissfully happy kind that crinkles his eyes at the corners — fills his heart with so much love that he's not sure how his chest is containing it. The pull of exhaustion, the throbbing in his wrist from the snake bite, the fear and panic that were threatening to overwhelm him — all of it disappears under the immensity of his joy.

He lifts his hands to Gil's face, cupping his jaw to drag him into a kiss that neither of them cares is more teeth than lips around the fullness of their smiles.

When they finally pull back, Gil's grin turns playful as he asks "So, how exactly _were_ you planning on telling me, kid?"

"Over a quiet dinner at that place you took me on our second date," Malcolm confesses bashfully. He'd decided on that restaurant for a dual purpose: partly because Gil had loved the food and partly because it was close to Gil's house, in case the news wasn't received well and Gil decided to leave. He didn't want him having to drive far if he was upset.

Now, he's not sure why he ever doubted that Gil would love their baby just as much as he does.

Without thought, his hand travels to his stomach, resting on the currently flat surface, knowing it won't be that way much longer. He sees Gil's gaze follow the movement and, with a smile, takes hold of Gil's wrist and presses his palm to his belly, holding it there with both of his hands wrapped snug overtop.

"She's lucky to have you as a father," Malcolm says earnestly, looking down with a grin.

"She?" Gil asks, an undertone of surprise ringing clear beneath the joy that colours the simple word.

Malcolm looks up and shrugs. "Just a feeling."

"Well, _she_ is going to have two fathers who love her more than anything in the world." Gil punctuates the statement with a kiss to Malcolm's forehead before he pulls him in for another hug. "I love you, kid."

Malcolm knows this feeling of hushed serenity won't last forever. He knows there will come a point that he panics about whether or not he should even be a father. Knows there will be difficult conversations about living arrangements and working while pregnant and child care and colleges. But for right now, he's content in Gil's arms, knowing their sweet pea is safe and sound. And so very loved.


End file.
